European stocks rebounded from the worst day in more than two years and Asian shares posted modest gains as investors sought to end a bruising week on a more upbeat note.
Signs of stress remained, however, as US equity futures declined and Treasuries rose.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index, which on Thursday dropped the most since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, jumped as every sector rallied. SandP 500 futures came off their lows as the European session wore on, but remained in the red for a second day.
Japanese equities outperformed as most Asian gauges nudged higher. Italian debt climbed as European bonds largely drifted.
The dollar edged up and the pound was steady as UK Prime Minister Theresa May was said to be weighing a plan to postpone the vote on her Brexit deal. Financial
Markets remain on tenterhooks amid worries the trade truce between China and the US won’t last after the arrest of the chief financial officer of Huawei.
As investors start to doubt the Federal Reserve will raise rates in 2019, JPMorgan Chase and Co CEO Jamie Dimon said while the focus has been on the central bank moving too quickly, there’s also a risk it does too little, too slowly.
For his part, Fed chair Jerome Powell delivered a bullish assessment of the US economy and the job market ahead of Friday’s labour report. It comes as market-implied US rate expectations crumble amid the tumult in equities.
“The big question mark still is what’s going to happen in 2019” with the Fed, Omar Aguilar, CIO of equities and multi-asset strategies at Charles Schwab, told Bloomberg TV.
“The jobs report could easily be the catalyst that will tell us a little more about what the path may be.”
Elsewhere, West Texas oil trimmed a drop as OPEC struggled to reach a deal on oil-production cuts.
Cryptocurrencies continued their slide with a fresh bout of losses after US regulators dashed hopes that a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund would appear before the end of this year. - Reuters
